To not know if I should admire her balls or report her

[AnniesTurn]

Neighbour.

I recently had to access her shed. She has wall to wall storage boxes. Very neat. Very organised.

Except they are all free recycling boxes from the council. We all get one red one blue and one food caddy. She has about 10 of each.

I asked her and she said "oh you just to the collection point and the give you more". She's been to ALL the collection points and collected a set from each

She's even using the food caddys to store dry pet food. She had no shame at all about it.

I can't work out if it's the councils own fault for not keeping any records of who collects or her fault for clearly stealing so she can have lovely neat stackable storage!

I have bought a couple of spare recycling boxes, but tbh they are no better than Rubbermaid boxes.

I agree with previous posters that, just because it's easy to take advantage, that's not a good reason.

I don't know what the local system is for obtaining recycling replacement boxes... I will inquire.

Just looked it up:

• All new homeowners can pick up their first recycling Red and Blue Boxes free at the Environment Services Administration office located at ....

• Replacement or additional Red and Blue Boxes can be purchased at .....

This system seems to work okay, as far as I can tell.

Even if you reported her, what do you think the council would do??? Probably nothing

We're growing some lettuce in ours

We only have the one though, we wouldn't be cheeky and ask for more.

I think recycling bins and schools/NHS is like comparing apples and pears. There is a budget for each, neither eats into eithers. So your NDN's perfectly organized shed that you accessed will not have deprived any schools of teachers or hospitals of life saving equipment. That reminds me, I have never taken off the red tag that tells the bin men that I need more compost bags, hence every fortnight I get a roll of them, which technically I don't need. Personally OP I really wouldn't get het up over this.

i wouldn't report her but i do think her behaviour is appalling. it's theft from the community, albeit on a small scale

I think she might just twig it's you if you report her, you know. Just a small chance..

Just RTFT sorry

How do you think those budgets are set

Round here you have to pay for replacement bins etc, probably down to people like her that took the Micky. I think I'd have said something thing passive aggressive when she was "bragging" about it like "ooh you tight bugger, could you not stretch to some Really Useful Boxes like the rest of us!

Although having said that, our little recycling food bin is full of fencing staples as we never used it - dogs/horses/hen's/compost deal with all our food left overs!

But she was given the boxes. Property transferred at that point. There is no theft per se.

Obviously it's the councils "fault" for trusting their electorate to be honest human beings.

Personally, I'd rather pay for 20 odd stacker boxes and know some local public service is a few quid better off than be the free loading binner who is keeping their spuds/dog food in something stolen from the council.

s2 Fraud Act 2006?
It's definitely not definitely not theft disclaimer I did this stuff a long time ago

I've got a load of recycling tubs in my garden! The council kept changing their mind about their recycling policy and changing colours.now X that by all the houses in my borough that have been subject to changes of recycling bins. The original ones were not recalled back. Now that is a bigger cost than someone sniffling a free tubs FOC.

Agree with steppemum too.

I think my threshold for reporting someone is higher than that. I wouldn't report. But I would file away her behaviour as note of her character.

If the council allow it and give the boxes over, does she realise it is wrong? And are they wilfully handing over the boxes or only after being told lots of dishonest tales by the neighbour?
I wouldn't report it.

I would file away her behaviour as note of her character

Good point. If she has access to your shed you'd better check that your secateurs and paddling pool aren't missing.

Why do some councils give out boxes ad lib, mow verges, give away dogpoo bags, not charge for green waste, not make you sort recycling int six different boxes, and others don't? It's so unfair, like council tax is.

I have a tidy shed with neatly labelled boxes, but I have bought my own, a few at a time.

I am on benefits and very skint, but I wouldn't dream of doing what your neighbour did. It's folk like me who are feeling the underfunding of councils and other public services right now.

It's not trivial and it's not funny. It's dishonest and selfish.

She did steal them in that she 'obtained property by deception' - the deception being that she already had some that were her fair share.

Whether what she has done amounts to a crime or not it's pretty fucking anti-social. Councils can distribute things like storage bins less expensively if they don't need to keep records, but if people take them for purposes other than the intended one that costs the council (and so everyone who lives in the council) more and if it happens enough they have to start keeping records, so that also adds to the expense costing everyone who lives in there more than if people weren't such fucking freeloaders.

It's recycling boxes. Not the Crown Jewells. I'd stay out of it.